Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. 20 million knowledge workers, 1,600 educational institutions, 1 million employers (including 100% of the Fortune 50), and every foundational AI lab trust Handshake to power career discovery, hiring, and upskilling, from freelance AI training gigs to first internships to full-time careers and beyond. This unique value is leading to unparalleled growth; in 2025, we tripled our ARR at scale.
Why join Handshake now:
Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family and peers can see and feel
Work hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
Join a team with leadership from Scale AI, Meta, xAI, Notion, Coinbase, and Palantir, among others
Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue
As an Associate Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll work alongside senior engineers and directly with our customers, leading AI labs, to help solve their most pressing technical challenges. You'll support the design and deployment of solutions that impact customer workflows and model performance, working across the stack, shipping quickly, and iterating based on real-world feedback. This is a fast-paced, high-exposure role where you'll learn by doing in ambiguous, constantly evolving environments.
This is a unique opportunity early in your career to combine hands-on engineering with direct customer engagement, building not just the "what" but the "how" of our most important deployments.
Location: San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office
Partner with AI labs and internal engineering and operations teams to help identify needs, gather requirements, and support solution design.
Work on custom asks from customers to help rapidly prototype and deploy tailored solutions that address unique, high-impact challenges.
Tackle complex technical problems with support from senior engineers, taking increasing ownership of delivery from concept through deployment.
Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on tools in response to real-time feedback.
Contribute to architectural discussions and help establish best practices for reliability, scalability, and security in high-impact deployments.
Document solutions and help create technical playbooks for repeatable, scalable deployment processes.
Desired Capabilities
0–2 years of professional software engineering experience (internships, co-ops, or project-based work count).
Familiarity with ReactJS and TypeScript, with an eye for detail, usability, and accessibility.
Foundational understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) and data modeling concepts.
Some exposure to cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and deployment pipelines.
Passion for clean, maintainable code and building reliable, performant systems.
Strong communication skills and a willingness to collaborate across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Comfortable working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a hunger to learn and grow.
Extra Credit
Coursework, projects, or internship experience involving LLMs or other AI-powered products.
Familiarity with component libraries, design systems, or building reusable interfaces.
Interest in or exposure to performance optimization and scaling of frontend or full-stack applications.
Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported—and thrive at work and in life.
The below benefits are for full-time US employees.
🎯 Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
🍼 Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
💝 Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
📚 Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office
🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses
Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.
Top Skills
What We Do
Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 650,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. Earlier this year, we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and new valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.
Why Work With Us
How someone builds their career is foundational. We believe in working with the higher education community to help students build meaningful careers. We are at the nexus of universities, students and employers— and we’re able to connect the very best pieces of each side. We’re proud to create a community where students can be more successful.
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